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Topic: Re-upholstering '67 front seats (Read 2069 times)

Any thoughts/recommendations on whether I should tackle the re-upholstering of my deluxe seats considering the fact that I have never done it before? Is there a knack that only the pro's have or can a guy watch a youtube video and figure it out?

I have the new cushions and seat covers already. I also have the hooks and pliers needed.

A local guy, who is very reputable, told me that for him to do it, with me providing all materials, would run me $225 for the front seats.

It is not hard but you MUST have an obsession for details to have a good end result. Most folks are intimidated but if you take your time, make sure you are in a warm place so the covers are supple, and have a good pair of hog ring pliers, and a set that are at an angle you can do it with no issues. Just take your time. Study the originals as you tear them down, take lots of pictures for reference.

My wife did the complete interior on our 67. My help was to take everything out, to include headliner and carpet; and "go away" until it was done. I'm a get it done yesterday guy, and she said, "I'll do it." She is very particular how things are done. Came out great and I always give her the credit for a fine job at every show or cruise we go to. I couldn't have done it without her.

I just did the interior in my 68 standard. I found that there are a lot of materials involved in doing an upholstery job. I had to get a roll of cotton, paper covered wire, cheese cloth, good burlap, jute, felt, synthetic batting, "s" springs, adhesive, etc. Also, have plenty of curse words on hand, you may use a lot of them. A 1lb box of hog rings was barely enough for me as I wasted a bunch of them trying to get them through all the layers of foam, cotton, and burlap. I guess my hands aren't strong enough. I also had to repair broken springs in both front seats and do some minor weld repairs on the seat backs where the sheet metal had torn a bit. I am very glad that I did the job myself but I don't know if I saved any money or have any wits left over. If you are only doing your front seats it will likely be a fun job but just be prepared to run into a few llittle snags along the way. I used Legendary seat covers and they are very nice but I had to add a lot of cotton and batting over the new foam to get them tight. Also, unlike the Youtube guys, I reassembled everything on my seats exactly as they came apart with the same type materials with the exception of the synthetic batting. I'll check and see if I have any useful pictures.

Its likley! I just saw hog rings and pliers on the Home Depot website. I thought the back seats were much easier because they had fewer listings in the center of the seat and the springs were in better shape due to less use.John

The Key for me was I did it myself and they looked,,,,OK.Two Critical ideas: Have a warm area as others have pointed out the materials are much easier to work with when supple (sp?) and pliable. You WILL need two sets of hands to do this. Others will claim they did all alone, but the job is a huge pain w/o 4 hands at the ready.Go for it.